From Taboo to Treatment: Digital Interventions for Women’s Sexual Health (Selina Marie Kronthaler)
“One in four women meets the criteria for sexual dysfunction with distress,” says clinical psychologist and sex therapist from Charite, Berlin Selina Marie Kronthaler. “And yet the vast majority never receive a diagnosis or evidence-based treatment.”
Women’s sexual distress and the gap between prevalence and care
The episode with Selina Marie Kronthaler is built around a striking contradiction: sexual distress is common, measurable, and treatable, yet largely absent from routine care. She distinguishes between sexual problems and sexual dysfunction with distress, emphasizing that distress is the clinical threshold. This matters because it reframes the issue away from norms (“what’s normal?”) toward suffering (“is this hurting your life?”). Despite rising public conversations about female pleasure, distress and pain remain stigmatized and under-discussed, even among clinicians.
Diagnosis fails before treatment even begins
The most consequential insight is that the system fails early. Women go online first, feel overwhelmed by contradictory information, then turn to gynecologists who often lack training in sexual medicine and have limited time. Psychotherapists may address distress but aren’t necessarily trained in sex therapy. So women cycle through professionals without receiving targeted treatment—an exhausting journey that compounds shame and mental load. What emerges is that the barrier isn’t the absence of solutions; it’s the absence of pathways and competence at the front door.
Digital health as privacy, triage, and scale
Selina Marie Kronthaler’s work uses digital intervention not as a replacement for care, but as a stigma-sensitive bridge: private, flexible, accessible, scalable, and grounded in evidence. The program she describes is biopsychosocial, combining education, body-based exercises, communication tools, and relationship-aware modules—self-guided, with the possibility of blended care later. The deeper point is that sexual health is an area where digital tools can plausibly reduce friction, normalize help-seeking, and relieve systems—if diagnosis and reimbursement structures catch up.
Funding and recognition lag behind market size
She also surfaces a recurring healthcare innovation pattern: huge prevalence does not automatically translate into investment or access. Femtech may be “booming,” but business models remain unstable, especially when reimbursement requires diagnosis—and diagnosis is precisely what the system fails to deliver. This creates a loop where solutions exist but don’t reach the people who need them, reinforcing invisibility.
Key topics (in order of appearance)
Sexual health beyond reproduction and menopause
Prevalence of sexual problems vs. sexual distress
Women’s sexual health as an underserved clinical domain
Public discourse on pleasure vs. silence around distress
Definition of sexual distress in ICD/medical terms
Subjective distress as the key diagnostic criterion
Help-seeking behavior and reliance on the internet
Barriers in gynecological care (time, training, referral gaps)
Psychotherapy and lack of sex-therapy specialization
Shame among patients and healthcare providers
Role of digital tools in screening and privacy-sensitive care
Epidemiology: one in four women affected by sexual distress
Multimodal treatment and sex therapy
Development of a biopsychosocial digital intervention
Self-guided vs. blended care models
Measuring outcomes: distress, function, quality of life
Relationship dynamics and partner impact
Femtech market size vs. funding gaps
Reimbursement vs. self-pay business models
The need for systemic recognition and investment
Advice to parents and early education
Advice to women experiencing sexual distress